The Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges needs letters of support to pass its five-year review from the U.S. Department of Education. At stake is its federal recognition, without which it could no longer accredit colleges. But the commission recently learned that the Education Department has received only complaints about it from faculty and letters of gratitude from colleges for accreditation renewal. There have been no letters of support.

"If these communications remain the only 'voice' of the California community colleges, then it is possible that the (Education Department) will not be able to grant recognition to the accrediting body," its president, Barbara Beno, wrote on Oct. 8 to the Association of Chief Business Officers, who run the finance departments at California's community colleges. Other education agencies apparently received the same request for a letter expressing "your institution's or your organization's commitment" to the commission's standards, policies and practices.

The commission accredits 134 colleges in California, Hawaii and the Pacific islands. It was established 50 years ago by the colleges themselves but must meet federal standards to continue holding them accountable.

Target of criticism

In recent years - especially since it began holding City College's feet to the fire last year - the commission has been a target of criticism by some of those very colleges. Not just from vocal faculty members but from the administrators who run them, though anonymously.

So when the Association of Chief Business Officers received the request, approval was not automatic. But its 13 board members eventually agreed to send a letter supporting one part of one accrediting standard: that colleges must remain financially viable.

"It was not unanimous," said President Bonnie Dowd, who didn't give the vote count. At least one board member was dissatisfied enough to leak the letter.

Asked recently if the commission was in danger of losing its federal recognition without the letters of support, Beno, the accrediting commission president, said: "Sure it is."

Beno and the 19-member commission, mostly educators, have said accreditation is meant to ensure that colleges function according to established standards.

But support for the commission is perhaps at its lowest point.

It's unclear what would replace it if the commission lost federal recognition. Yet pressure for change is coming from several sources:

Two lawsuits, one from the California Federation of Teachers and the other from the city of San Francisco, are challenging the commission's integrity leading up to its decision to revoke City College's accreditation next summer.

The state has also approved an audit to check whether accrediting practices conform to how other commissions work across the country. The U.S. Education Department has issued preliminary findings that the commission is out of compliance in areas from conflicts of interest to the clarity of its requirements.

'Fear of retaliation'

Dissatisfaction is also found among college leaders.

The chancellor of one college district wrote the Education Department on Oct. 7, urging it to reject the commission's petition for federal recognition on grounds that the commission is overly punitive and does not comply with the requirement that its "standards, policies, procedures, and accreditation decisions are widely accepted in the United States."

The chancellor also points to a 2011 report by the nonprofit RP Group, which studies California community colleges and found deep dissatisfaction with the commission among the leaders at three of five colleges studied.

For example, "the colleges interviewed found (the commission) generally unreceptive to constructive criticism and expressed a fear of retaliation," the report says. Two leaders disagreed but said that was because they had personal relationships at the commission.

The commission's application deadline is Oct. 25. A decision on recognition is expected in January.